It's Good to be Back
by bekaz13
Summary: On the way to the Holy Land to rescue Marian, Allan remembers something that had been said almost a year before. Allan/Will friendship, spoilers through 2x12.


_**Edit: **It was recently brought to my attention that the line "It's good to have you back," in episode 2x11 was actually said by Much, not Will (thanks, Biancaneve!). After kicking myself a couple dozen times, I figured I'd leave this up anyway, and just pretend it was Will. Otherwise, this fic would make no sense at all (Does that mean this is AU now?) Sorry for any confusion...kicks self again_

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Everything had been going fine, or as fine as it could be without Robin there with them: the king was home, the sheriff had been arrested, and with all the evidence against him Allan doubted if they would ever see the evil git again. Everything was going so well, in fact, that he was pretty sure the entire situation was due to explode right...about...now.

_Right on cue, Much burst into the hall, yelling at the top of his voice "It's a trap! This is not the king! Arrest that impostor!"_

_Was he good, or was he good? The rest of the gang stared up at Much, their faces bearing expressions of shock that he would probably have found funny had the situation not been so frightening. Still, he couldn't help muttering, "I knew this smelled funny."_

_Much barked at them to run before he could explain further, and he was more than happy to comply considering the circumstances. They were quickly cut off by several guards, but as they turned to go the other way he saw Robin appear and knock out another one._

"_Shall we?" he asked, and Allan was surprised to see the old mischievous glint back in their leader's eye. Something must have changed on the Marian front, then, he thought._

_He grinned as he ran past Robin up the stairs, calling, "Thought we were out of a job!"_

_Will must have been thinking along the same lines he was, because he called to Robin as well, "It's good to have you back."_

_Robin's response came immediately: "It's good to be back."_

Allan woke with a start as the memory flooded back to him. It took him a moment to remember where he was, as well as why his bed was rocking back and forth. Ah yes, they were on the way to the Holy Land to rescue Marian. He hoped they got there in time. He had come to like her in the time he spent in the castle, but more than that he couldn't imagine what would happen to Robin if they didn't. The man had almost left the last time he thought he had lost her. He had given up. He had abandoned them.

Again the memory of Robin's return filled his mind, and with it came a feeling of hope. Robin had left once, too. Sure, it wasn't the same, but still...And then he heard Will's voice in his head, _"It's good to have you back." _He had heard those words just a few days ago, the same words that had welcomed their leader back had been spoken to _him_ as well.

He looked around the ship's hold at the gang he no longer felt fully a part of, and was simultaneously glad and disappointed when he noticed that Will was uncharacteristically absent from Djaq's side. He had a question for the man, but had been hoping that the opportunity to ask it would elude him for at least a few more hours. No such luck.

He decided that he might as well get it over with now, while everyone else was asleep. He got up carefully, a hand on the wall of the hold to steady himself against the ship's movement, and slowly made his way topside.

Will was standing at the railing, watching the water. He looked around as Allan approached, his expression unreadable.

"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked.

"Naw, the bloody ship won't stay still long enough," he replied. It was a feeble attempt at a joke, but he wanted to avoid his own question for as long as possible. It didn't seem to have been enough, however, because Will fell silent once again.

The silence was deafening. Though Allan wanted desperately to hear Will's answer, to be reassured that he was truly welcomed back into the gang, he was terrified at the same time. Finally, he couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"Did you mean it?"

"Wha'?" Will said, startled at the randomness of the question.

"Did you mean it, what you said that day in Nettlestone? Y'know, when we were fighting the mercenaries." He paused a second before pressing on, not taking his eyes from the horizon, "You said...you said it was good to have me back. Did you mean it?"

"Oh," Will said, realization dawning on him. He turned back to the railing as he continued, "Yeah. I did."

"Really?" Allan asked, surprised at the sincerity he heard in Will's voice. "I mean, if you didn't, I understand. You were probably just grateful that you weren't stuck in that barn anymore. Then again, I did a pretty shoddy job of getting you out, didn't I? And even if I'd done better, that's still no reason for you to let me come back. I'm not denying it, I messed up big time back there, and—"

"Allan, shut up a minute!"

Allan fell silent, his mind still racing to come up with an explanation for why Will could possibly have meant what he had said.

"Look, I'd already forgiven you. Even before that whole fiasco with the sheriff, I'd forgiven you."

"But-" Allan stammered.

"Sure, I was mad. I still am, really. But I meant what I said. I missed you, Allan. We all did, even Robin." Allan's head snapped up so quickly his neck cramped.

"What?" He rubbed his neck, staring at Will incredulously, "You think so?"

"Yeah. It was...too _quiet_, you know?" He grinned. Allan smiled back, relieved, and they fell silent again, watching the sky as it turned from grey to pink in a prelude to the dawn.

Suddenly, Will spoke again, "Did _you_ mean it?"

It was Allan's turn to look confused. "Mean what?"

"When you said it was good to be back. I thought maybe you were just glad we were okay or something. I almost expected you to stay behind."

"'Course I meant it, Will. Yeah, it was nice having enough food for a change, and sleeping in an actual bed again, in an actual house..." He saw Will frowning at him, and quickly continued, "But I was miserable the whole time. You say you all missed me, but you can't imagine how much I missed you lads. I think I even missed Much's whining sometimes!" Will looked satisfied at that response, and they turned to the waves once again.

After a minute, Allan broke the silence a third time, "So, you and Djaq, eh?"

"Yeah," Will looked as though he couldn't understand it himself. "I guess so, yeah."

Allan paused, weighing his chances before he made the remark he'd been holding in for days. It was just too perfect an opportunity to pass up. "Not being funny, but it took you long enough, didn't it?"

Will gave him a quick, sheepish grin before replying, "You're one to talk. If you remember, you felt the same way, and you never told her."

Allan smirked, "Didn't I?"

Will stared at him for a second before deciding to play along. "Alright, so when did you tell her?"

"After Harold. Y'know, when he almost...well, you remember. Anyway, after that I figured there was always a chance something might happen to one of us, so why risk her not knowing? Mind you, after a while I realized it wasn't like that anyway. I love her like a sister, it's just, after Tom...well I wasn't really thinking straight."

Will nodded. He knew the feeling. "So what'd she say?"

"Well she said she wasn't interested, didn't she?"

"Uh huh. So did you think to ask what she _was_ interested in?"

Allan didn't miss a beat. "'Course I asked. She said she really wanted someone younger. And then, she said, she'd always preferred darker hair. Not a lot of blondes in the Holy Land, after all. And something about talent?" He screwed up his face in mock confusion as Will nodded, waiting for the punch-line he knew was coming. Allan continued, "Which I thought was sort of odd. Not being funny, but I thought she didn't meet your brother until later?"

Will shoved him gently. "You liar."

"That's me, innit?" Allan grinned. Then his expression grew more serious, "But not anymore. No, that's got to stop now, I guess."

"Naw, if you're gonna lie that badly, I don't reckon it'll matter much." He clapped Allan on the back, grinning at the look on his friend's face. "I'm going back below. You coming?"

"No, I'm gonna stay up here a bit." He listened to Will's steps fade away as the younger man climbed back into the hold. As he looked out at the now orange horizon, he thought to himself: It really was good to be back.

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_**A/N:** This started out when I was re-watching episode 1x13 one day. I heard those two lines and went, "Wait a minute! Didn't he say that to Allan?" And this ficlet was born. It was originally just going to be a little Allan introspection comparing what he did to Robin almost leaving, but then I had to add in the Allan/Will talk that didn't happen in the show, and the bit about Djaq at the end sort of wrote itself._

_Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, feedback/constructive criticism is loved!_


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